Upgrade Print Server

Question

_{Thursday, February 20, 2020 10:02 AM}

Hi All,

I am in the middle to creating a plan to upgrade our print server from W2008 to W2012 or W2016. This is due to W2008 Server sunset.

I am unsure how to approach this whole process. Its the first time I have ever migrated a print server that has in excess of 100 print queues.

My thoughts are

1. Install server 2012 or 2016 as an in place upgrade. Basically upgrade the current Operating system and leave everything else intact.

2. Create a new Server. Copy the print queues over to the new server and test.

Are there any other ways that could be considered. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards.

All replies (4)

_{Friday, February 21, 2020 12:43 AM}

HI
i don't recommend to in place upgrade from printer server w2008 to w2016,since w2012 will be end of life in 10/10/2023 , i recommend to migrate your w2008 printer server to w2016 printer server so that it will  reduce print issue and troubleshooting time.

1.there are these main migration steps
(1)Make sure that the existing print drivers are compatible on the destination server(w2016).on the w2008 printer server,ensure that all print drivers are up to latest version and use universal print drivers when possible as well.
(2)install the print and document services role on w2016 with different ip address from printer server 2008
(3)export the queues,the drivers,the print objects and security settings from the source server into a printer data file.
(4)import printer data file from the scource server to the destination server
(5)publish printers to client computers from w2016 printer server ,the client computer will see 2 deployed printers,some are from w2008 ,the others are from w2016
(6)if there is everything print ok from w2016 printer server, we can unpublish printers from w2008,now there should be only some deployed printers from w2016 printer server.
(7)disable printer w2008 server computer account or unjion w2008 printer server from AD domain.
(8)delete the ip address of w2008 printer server from DNS record.

we need to simulate the migration process in our environment because migration from printer server W2008 to printer server w2016 is a cross-release migration. This method will avoid some ticklish questions after migration.

"If we have type 2 drivers ,they will not be imported because server 2012 or later only support type 3and type 4 drivers."
server 2016 evaluation download link.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2016
Step-by-Step: Migrating Print Servers from Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2012
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/canitpro/2013/06/16/step-by-step-migrating-print-servers-from-windows-server-2008-to-windows-server-2012/
Migrate Printers from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 R2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWO5UnIiRzE
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Best Regards
Andy YOU
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_{Friday, February 21, 2020 7:45 AM}

Hi Andy YOU,

I will take a good look into this and the best possible path is probably going to be build a new W2016 server and copy all the print queues etc over to the new server.

I will let you know how it goes but I don't plan for another month at least.

Regards.

_{Friday, February 21, 2020 11:02 AM}

HI
Thanks for your reply . I hope everything goes well.

Best Regards
Andy YOU
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_{Wednesday, February 26, 2020 9:48 AM}

HI

Please let us know if you need further assistance.if you have issue when you do above steps,we can post a new case with this link in this forum in next month.thanks for your understanding.

If you find any reply that helps, could you help mark it as an answer so that other community members could find the helpful reply quickly please ? Your contribution is highly appreciated.

Thanks for your support and understanding.

Have a nice day!

Best Regards
Andy YOU
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].